Monday, August 18, 2014

Blood Chimera

“BLOOD CHIMERA” / JENN LYONS

Some ransoms aren’t meant to be paid. Kidnap and Ransom negotiation used to be straightforward. The bad guys kidnap someone, and K&R expert Jackson Pastor negotiates their release, skillfully traversing a maze of bloodthirsty monsters: criminals, terrorists, police, and especially the FBI. But that was before he met real bloodthirsty monsters. When Jackson Pastor arrives in Los Angeles to help a new client recover his kidnapped wife, he finds himself dropped in the middle of a 500-year-old war between rival European and Mexican vampire clans, a conflict that threatens to escalate into a full-on public gang war. Worse, Jackson hasn’t been brought to Los Angeles to be a negotiator. His new boss wants to turn him into an assassin. With Jackson about to be caught in the middle of a clan war, his only hope of escape may lie with a secret FBI monster-hunting task-force led by a very dangerous, eccentric wizard. Which could be a problem, since Jackson’s a monster himself.Blood Chimera is be available in trade paperback and ebook via Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Kobo.com, WorldWeaverPress.com, and other online retailers, and for wholesale through Ingram. You can also find Blood Chimera on Goodreads.About the author:Jenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, three cats and a lot of opinions on anything from Sumerian creation myths to the correct way to make a martini. At various points in her life, she has wanted to be an archaeologist, anthropologist, architect, diamond cutter, fashion illustrator, graphic designer, or Batman. Turning from such obvious trades, she is now a video game producer by day, and spends her evenings writing science fiction and fantasy. When not writing, she can be found debating the Oxford comma and Joss Whedon’s oeuvre at various local coffee shops. World Weaver Press is an independently owned publisher of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction. We believe in great storytelling.Publication Date: August 12 • Paranormal Mystery$14.95 trade paperback, 360 pages • $6.99 ebookISBN: 978-0692249185Publicity/Reviews: publicity@worldweaverpress.comInformation:www.worldweaverpress.com/blood-chimera.htmlWORLD WEAVER PRESSBlood Chimera / 2# # # # #Guest post:One of the many inspirations for Blood Chimera came from the fall of the Berlin Wall.I know, I know. A long time ago, but I’m not young in body anymore, so bear with me.One of the things that happened with the domino chain fall of communism, specifically with the overthrow of Romanian tyrant Nicolae Ceaușescu, was greater access to Romanian myth and folklore. A lot of these stories had been actively suppressed under communism, so they were rarely discussed. With open borders, there was an explosion of such tales.That’s how I was first exposed to stories about the strigoi.At first blush, a strigoi just comes off as a different name for vampire, and indeed, in many versions, that’s really all they are. Some versions of the Romanian strigoi didn’t conform to the classic stereotypes, however, which I found fascinating. In specific, strigoi are often born that way, the result of being born redheaded, or with a caul, or a seventh son, or witchcraft (if the father was a warlock, or the mother a witch, or they made their own pacts with the Devil,) or, the one that really got my attention, the child born to a union between a woman and her dead husband. In some parts of Romania, you see, it was the custom for a widow to never be allowed to remarry, which was more than a little embarrassing if, several years after her husband’s death, she then became pregnant.Woops.But such widows had an out, which was to claim that her husband was in fact the child’s father. If her husband was strigoi, well…who could blame the woman for honoring her marriage vows? Of course, I imagine the deal was a little less welcome for the baby. Such a child would be seen as something almost as bad as a bastard, because even if they were perfectly normal, everyone knew their inevitable fate: when the child eventually died, they would become strigoi too, inheriting their father’s thirst for blood. Perhaps they would even pass their strigoi inheritance on to their own children.I loved this idea. Someone could go their whole life thinking they were completely normal only to discover that they were anything but that. I didn’t use all the strigoi stories, but I can hardly deny that the tales were a huge influence as I developed the marans.Even more fun, of course, if the child had no idea…

Knit something for someone special today!

This book had projects for everyone. From felting, to regular knitting and crochet, this book has many different styles to inspire you.

Gifted is based on the premise of small, quick gift items and I can think of no other book for some fast holiday knitting or crocheting. The Felted Heart Milagros project on the cover is one of my favorites! The instructions are easy to understand for an intermediate knitter such as myself.

The projects are arranged in two groups. Gifts for the Body focuses on wearable projects. There are scarves, earmuffs, hats and more. Gifts for the Soul has scissor sleeves,a pincushion and adorable crochet flowers.

If you are trying to learn a new technique, this book is for you. The projects are small and portable and work out quickly.

There are recipes from author Mags Kandis and great photographs to inspire you while you knit one of a kind gifts that are sure to delight someone special.